Front Matter Page
Monetary and Financial Systems Department
Authorized for distribution by Alain Ize and S. Kal Wajid
Contents
I. Introduction
II. Measures of Legal Central Bank Independence
A. The GMT and Cukierman Indexes
B. The Modified Cukierman Index
III. A Map of Central Bank Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean During the 1990s
IV. Legal Central Bank Independence and Inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Is There a Link?
A. Baseline Results
B. An Alternative Specification: The Role of Structural Reforms
C. Accounting for Endogeneity
V. Concluding Remarks
References
Tables
1. List of Country Groups Based on Cluster Analysis
2. Summary Statistics Across Country Groups
3. Summary Statistics by Regions, 1990–2002
4. Pair-Wise Correlations Between Selected Variables, by Regions, 1990–2002
5. Correlations Between Indexes of Legal Central Bank Independence, by Regions
6. Panel Regressions of Inflation on Contemporaneous Central Bank Independence
7. Panel Regressions of Inflation on Contemporaneous Central Bank Independence (Including Structural Reforms)
8. Panel Regressions of Inflation on MCI Using Instrumental Variables
Figures
1. Cluster Analysis Based on the Components of the Modified Cukierman
2. International Inflation and Inflation in Sampled Countries, 1990–2002
Appendices
I. Structure of the Cukierman and Modified Cukierman Indexes
II. GMT Index and the Independence of Central Banks